SEAGA TELLS SEMINAR ECONOMY IMPROVING

Amidst recent demonstrations here over food and gasoline prices and a revival of Michael Manley's opposition as a political force to contend with, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga told an investment seminar Friday that this country's economic health is improving.

Addressing a conference of U.S., Canadian and European business executives meeting this weekend to explore investment opportunities in Jamaica, Seaga pointed to a sharp reduction in the budget deficit -- from 17 percent to 8 percent in one year -- declining unemployment and a surplus of foreign exchange as sure signs that the government's policies are working.

The prime minister has chosen a treacherous path to lead his country down in his approach to recovery, and there has been a feeling of betrayal by many who voted for him that his policies are digging too deeply into Jamaicans' pockets.

While admitting cutbacks have taken a painful toll on the poor, those close to Seaga say he is aware of the political risk he has assumed but will stay the course.

"Eddie cannot afford to play the role of a politician at this stage in Jamaica's history. There is too much work to be done to turn the country around," said Jean Anderson, the prime minister's sister. "He has told me many times in private that he'll let history judge him.

"He knows that popular or unpopular, these moves are necessary. And the people are reacting against them because they are massive changes they don't understand," Anderson said in an interview with the News/Sun-Sentinel.

Anderson said the Jamaican people liken Seaga to a father who is punishing them and that sentiment may indeed drive the populace into the waiting arms of Manley.

Seaga's plan to overhaul the country's economy has marshaled development in non-traditional industries. He defended that strategy at the conference, pointing to the collapse of traditional exports such as bauxite and bananas -- both of which have been clobbered on the world market -- as evidence that the economy had been resting precariously on a "one-legged stool."

"I have a plan for diversification of the economy that has for too long relied too much on bauxite for foreign exchange revenues," he told the group of 150 potential investors. "And our government will continue to seek investments that are labor-intensive with high earnings in foreign exchange."

Seaga has kept a high profile throughout the conference, which will continue through this evening.